We will place emphasis on the says/does approach, rhetorical reading, and reading like a writer

Ellen C. Carillo's A Writers Guide to Mindful Reading shares practical reading tips for college students. Her goal is to encourage MINDFUL READING. The notes below are on approaches to reading that help readers be intentional about how they read based on why they're reading.

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Skimming and Metacognition

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In our session, we'll look briefly at Carillo then at the Kellogg Workbook for Grassroots Leaders.

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The reason we'll discuss reading is that there is value in being intentional about how you approach reading and what you hope to retain or get from a reading. Thinking about what you're reading, why you're reading it, and what you want to gain from the experience is part of metacognition: thinking about thinking. We'll call this reflection and/or metacognitive activity.

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Because we will be reading a variety of materials in the Advanced Leadership Program, it will be beneficial to discuss what we want to gain from reading and the different ways we read.

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For all of our readings, I will suggest that you flip through materials first, then quickly skim the document prior to reading. Then, as you read, I'll challenge you to read with at least three specific goals in mind: reading for content, reading to examine the rhetorical scenario, and reading like a writer.

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A note about reading:

Life presents us with more reading than you or I can possibly tackle. On top of work related emails and materials, we have to do outside research on the artifacts of our life, from cell phone plans to medical insurance. Because we are presented with so many reading expectations, it is important to develop strategies for making the most of the limited time you have to read.

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Most of us learned to read and focus on content as elementary students. The US school system rarely moves beyond reading for content and reading for meaning, with the exception of some literature and English courses.  This is a problem. Reading for content is an entry level approach to reading. Imagine if a basketball coach focused only on dribbling and shooting from first grade PE through high school competitive leagues. Players on the team would not understand how to run a play, set a pick, or run a full court press. The same is true of music. Musicians learn notes as the foundation of their skills sets, but they quickly move on to understand time schemes, watch the band conductor, and blend with other musicians. For some reason, students are rarely challenged to make these sorts of sophisticated advancements as readers. For our purposes as grassroots leaders, reading for content is foundational like shooting a free throw or knowing the musical notes on the page. You may already have strategies you use for reading; we will share these and discuss how these help you tackle all that you have to read. Next, we will explore ways to adapt and practice other reading skills, like previewing a text and skimming, prior to taking time to closely read/annotate a text.

 

READING ABOUT READING

If you are familiar with the ways you strategically approach texts, simply skim Carillo.

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If you are not familiar with these concepts, read Carillo's Chapter 1 (it's nice and short), then use strategies you learn in Chapter 1 to read Chapter 2.

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SKIM Chapter 1 https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/mindful/chapter1.pdf 

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READ Chapter 2 https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/mindful/chapter2.pdf

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Carillo comments on strategies and schema we will use in our advanced leadership training program.

 

FLIP, SKIM, READ WITH SCHEMAS

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FLIP FIRST

Always FLIP through a text prior to skimming it. This helps you see how the article/text is organized and get an idea of sections your more interested in reading closely and other sections you already know about which you might invest less time in. As you FLIP through the text, take a moment longer at the end to see how the writer concludes the document. Carillo calls this PREVIEWING on p. 11 of her text.

 

SKIM SECOND

After you flip through the document, take five minutes to skim a text prior to reading it.

When I ask you to skim, I mean reading the first and last paragraphs of major sections and the first and/or last sentence of each long paragraph. Read only the first line or sentence of shorter paragraphs.

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As you skim, notice the title and other contextualizing notes at the bottom of pages which tell you who wrote it, when it was written, and who published it/who it--where it was published is a clue for who the article/book was written to/for. [Was it published in College English? This it's for English teachers. Was it published in Psychology Today? Then it's targeting folks interested in psychology.] Keep skimming. Make marginal notes if you notice other rhetorical clues, key points, characters/figures, and topics. Circle or highlight key words [these are sometimes in bold or terms which include definitions]. Also notice organizational choices. Is it in chapters? Sections? Organized like a lab report?

 

After you skim a text, you can better gauge the writer's intentions, major concepts, and how long it will take you to actually read the article/book. Skimming will also help identify areas you might want to read more closely or possibly skip. [Yes, some of this happens at the flip stage. The skim stage further orients your choices.] In the long run, flipping and skimming save time because you learn to make choices about what to read closely and what you can skim. This will help you pace yourself. Always leave time to read the last page/section closely.

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Taking time to skim prior to reading will also save you time as you do research for projects because you’ll learn to identify sections that aren’t related to your topic that you can skip as well as noticing sections you’ll want to pay more attention to.  Always make a marginal note by materials you want to read closely later. Making marginal notes as you skim AND later as you read also helps reinforce learning. Developing previewing and skimming skills is part of selecting and retaining key information while you're reading.

 

READ and ANNOTATE

After you preview and skim a document, you're ready to read and annotate it. Start by reading for context, and cultivate other reading schema like reading to notice how the author is using outside research and supporting evidence, reading to analyze the rhetorical scenario, and reading to understand how/why the writer used particular words and sentence structures. 

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After consideration of Carillo's Chapters 1 and 2, experiment with her ideas related to PREVIEWING and SKIMMING with the Kellogg  Workbook. Set a timer and skim the entire workbook in 5 minutes.

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NOTE: If having a timer set as you skim is too stressful, write down the time on the clock as you start skimming and the end time to gauge how long it took you to skim the Pratt article. You'll get faster at skimming as you practice. 

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NOTE #2: I hate skimming. It feels stressful and like a waste of perfectly good time I could be reading for content, but it does save time in the long run. It also helps me be intentional about what I'll skip and what I want to take the time to read.

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READING for CONTEXT versus READING with STRATEGIES & SCHEMA

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There are many different approaches to reading. Some readers do focus on content for the purpose of taking a test or writing a report. Others are reading for different reasons. Carillo suggests some interesting schema as options:

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• The Says/Does Approach (p. 14) which looks at what a moment or sentence says THEN looks at what it does.

• Rhetorical Reading (p. 18) which interrogates the author, purpose, and audience.

• Mapping (p. 20) which challenges readers to create visual maps [like flow charts] of the reading.

• The Believing/Doubting Game (p. 21) which asks readers to believe 100% in the argument made so that they can go back later with keen insights that help them better understand the readers/audiences positions -- this can help shape later critiques because it starts from a point of empathy.

• Reading Like a Writer (p. 22) which modifies reading for content so that readers are looking at how the content is presented and shaped at the word and sentence levels first, then organizationally at the document level.

 

As part of the advanced leaders program, we will place emphasis on the says/does approach, rhetorical reading, and reading like a writer. 

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LOOKING BACK AT SESSION 1: MATERIALS WE TACKLED

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• We listened to Lucille Clifton read “won’t you celebrate with me.” You commented on how the poem resonated with you; we explored this sort of response to a reading as a mode of literary criticism called Reader Response Criticism. Then, we spoke briefly about an alternative reading of the poem which examined Clifton’s life and times; reading through this critical lens is called Historical/ Biographical Criticism.  

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• We also talked a little about the ways you can change the way you’re looking at a piece of writing to analyze it from different angles. As a grassroots leader, you’ll read a lot of material and will benefit from thinking critically about the way you’re engaging and interrogating the text. As part of this, we talked about ways of reading, like flipping through a document and skimming it, as a way to get oriented to the text and to decide what to focus on more or less as you read. And that wasn’t even half of the session.

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• We looked at the Kellogg Workbook on grassroots leaders. You recognized right away that you are well beyond the early steps of being committed, effective grassroots leaders. The self-assessment tool verified that you know what motivates you and have a clear focus: issues related to grassroots maternal and child health initiatives.

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• You also read and discussed an essay by Ella Baker: “Developing Community Leadership.” You affirmed that many of the challenges she faced as a grassroots leader and a woman advocating for community/systemic change are some of the same challenges you face. We also emphasized her insights into the disciplined, steady approach grassroots leaders take as behind the scenes movers and shakers.

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• On top of all of these meaty discussions, we looked at the WIX and syllabus.  

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